1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to racks for hanging objects, such as towels, ties, belts and jars, and in particular to a modular rack and kit of parts capable of being reconfigured for a variety of applications in a home, hotel or other commercial facility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
My prior invention, U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,198, issued Aug. 14, 1984, was directed to an expandable towel rack having telescoping ends for adjusting rack width to desired dimensions. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,198 is incorporated herein by reference.
Homes, hotels and other commercial facilities often employ different types of mounted racks that are dedicated to specific applications. For example, bathrooms often require towel racks, garment racks, toiletry racks/shelves for cosmetics, drinking glasses, razors, tooth brushes and the like. Bedroom clothing closets often have tie, scarf and belt racks. Kitchens often require towel, spice and knife racks. Garages and utility rooms often require racks for hanging tools, containers holding nails and screws and the like. Each different application in different rooms often requires purchase of separate dedicated racks due to dimensional requirements and their intended application. For example, a garment hanger will need hooks to secure belts or hang hats. A kitchen spice rack needs capacity to hold spice jars, bottles, and other types of vessels securely. Bathroom cosmetic racks may need open shelves capable of holding a variety of cosmetic and grooming objects suitable to the user, with peripheral bumpers to prevent objects from inadvertently falling off the shelf.
An individual homeowner may not be unduly burdened by purchasing different application specific storage racks when occasionally remodeling a household room. Conversely, building developer or commercial complex manager is more likely to be inconvenienced by the need to purchase inventories of different application specific storage racks when building or remodeling a large housing development, apartment complex or hotel.
Thus, a need exists in the art for a modular rack system capable of being configured for different applications and dimensions during manufacture or in the field, so as to reduce application specific inventory.
Another need exists in the art for a modular rack system capable of being configured for different applications and dimensions from a kit of common parts.